I Wish You Enough

This is excerpted from Bob Buford's enewsletter at ACTIVEenergy.net. I wish you enough! Enjoy

Jerry

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From the Mind of Bob ... Musings for Friends...

Leading a balanced life and the role of "small things"

Sometimes small things, unexpected things, surprising things can make a difference in our lives. Mostly, they seem to pass unnoticed as we pursue our 100X big deals. I find this distressingly the case for me most of the time. Linda says I’m too concerned with numbers. Maybe it's a guy thing to stay on task to keep our emotions in check, not to let the small things through. In the rush of getting through our endless to-do lists, we don't even "see" them.

Two "small things" happened to me last week that I let get through my stoic screening mechanism. One was an e-mail that unexpectedly overwhelmed me at my desk. (I allowed some private tears.) The other was a visit.

The e-mail was forwarded by Ron Fournier, who is the Chief Political Reporter for the Associated Press in Washington, DC. I have been networking him to some interesting sources for a book he's been working on about the intersections of new things in business, politics, and religion. Here’s the -email he forwarded:

"Recently, I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, "I love you and I wish you enough." The daughter replied, "Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom."

They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there, I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?"

"Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?"

She answered, "I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is -- the next trip back will be for my funeral."

"When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what that means?"

She began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone." She paused a moment and looked up, as if trying to remember it in detail, and she smiled even more. "When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them." Then, turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

She then began to cry and walked away.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them.

GOD'S GRAND DIVERSION

A Report from a Church of God Pastor

God’s Grand Diversion to Grand Isle, Louisiana

Forty-four thousand pounds of meat – and nowhere to put it! That’s what our Hurricane Katrina food relief convoy faced while sitting in the parking lot of the North ParkChurch of God in Meridian Mississippi.

Just three days prior, confirmed arrangements were made with the Red Cross to deliver an 18-wheeler packed with donated pre-cooked meat products and another truck packed with non-perishables. But upon arrival of our convoy (Monday, September 12) from the Winton Road First Church of God (Fairfield, OH) the best of plans quickly began to unravel. Because the emergency needs and relief efforts in this disaster are fluid and daily changing, the Red Cross had just received unexpected shipments that had packed their cold storage facilities to capacity. After hastily placing phone calls, we found that this was also the situation with other major relief organizations in immediate region – even as far as Jackson, Mississippi.

With the help of Pastor Earl Wheatley, we were fortunate to at least make small food drops off at the Aldersgate Retirement Community and the Poplar Springs Nursing Center – both sheltering elderly hurricane victims who had been transported from flooded nursing homes. We also packed a church van full of boxed frozen meat to be delivered to Love’s Kitchen – a charity organization in Meridian, MS. However we were still desperate to make a drop of the remaining 43,500 pounds of meat.

Then someone from Ohio called who had learned of our plight. Through a remote connection, she forwarded a phone number that linked us a councilman from to Grand Isle, Louisiana. Grand Isle is a poor fishing community on the southern most tip of Louisiana, a few hours south of New Orleans – six hours south of where we were. That Monday morning, the army corp of Engineers informed Grand Isle that on Wednesday the severely damaged bridge (their only land link) would be closed for three weeks for repair. Officials were scrambling and praying about how their relief workers would survive – their provisions inadequate. Then came our phone call . . . and they said “come!”

God’s grand food diversion to Grand Isle, Louisiana was now in progress. We were concerned about how we’d get through the roadblocks, but the police and National Guard freely granted us passage.

On our last stop for diesel fuel before going any deeper into the destruction area, our situation became increasingly urgent. Something was terribly wrong with our refrigerated trailer. The temperature gauge showed a severe increase inside. It had soared to 37 degrees. There was now no turning back. Our shipment had to arrive and get unloaded quickly.

En route, Pastor Earl Wheatley stayed in contact to monitor our progress. He also passed along the news that the food we loaded in his church van was gratefully received by Love’s Kitchen and that it filled their eight empty freezers perfectly with no room to spare. It was just the right amount.

Upon arriving at the damaged bridge we unloaded half of the 18-wheeler by hand. A portable cold storage unit was waiting for us. We wondered why they didn’t first take the entire 44,000 load over to Grand Isle, but that question was answered half way across the bridge. The national guard took the lead as they gave us an escort and recommended we go very slow and keep at least one concrete span of bridge distance between each of our trucks and vehicles. A paramedic unit took up the rear – just in case.

The bridge we were now crossing was in fact severely damaged. Breathlessly, we cringed at the sight of the double yellow centerline painted on the concrete spans had shifted in some sections as far as 4 feet – zigzagging its way for about 150 feet. Adrenaline surged as we noticed that some sections were tilted up or down as much as 12 inches due to the powerful hurricane surge.

Planks of wood were used to ramp us up and down from one concrete span to the next in our crossing. Needless to say, we all unbuckled our seat belts as we crept across, just in case a sudden swim would be required. In hindsight, we feel that surely the officials and Army Corp. of Engineers would not have put us in immediate danger, however it was rather disconcerting.

On the other side we first unloaded five pallets of food at the fire station where a crew of guardsmen were waiting. Then the officials cried out instructions – “take the rest to the church.” I found my spirit warmed as I pondered the fact that in the midst of catastrophic devastation, the two strongholds of this island community were the fire station and the church. What denomination was it? At that moment we didn’t ask and it didn’t matter . . . it was just there and serving as a central emergency facility for the guardsmen and relief workers – the church doing what the church does best in a time of storm.

At the church, the National Guard swarmed our trucks and quickly unloaded everything. As the last pallet of frozen meat was loaded into their refrigerated unit, it barely squeezed in. Like the shipment to Love’s Kitchen earlier that day, this shipment to Grand Isle was just the right amount. They couldn’t have handled one pallet more. We came to learn that in the mist of crisis and unexpected diversions, God’s plans are perfect and His provision is perfect.

That night, the grateful officials and guardsmen allowed us to bunk down with them at their small town hall – one of just a few structures that was not destroyed and that had generator power. We slept on army cots with army sleeping bags just outside the door of the major’s office. They kindly gave us some food and allowed us to eat breakfast with them the next morning before making what would likely be the last passage of civilians back across the damaged bridge.

Two days later, a city council member, expressed his ongoing appreciation. “Thank you so much! You fixed us up real good,” he said in his deep Cajun accent. “We didn’t know what we were going to do. But now we have enough for a whole month!”

-- Pastor Brian Buriff / Winton Road First Church of God / Fairfield, OH. Relief Team: Brian and Amber Buriff, John Lansdale, Donna Hamblin, Scott Witsken, and John Tilton.

Hurricane Response Update

Below is information regarding some of the Church of God efforts in response to Hurricane Katrina. It comes from Tony and Debbie Weiger. Tony is the Church of God State Pastor in Alabama.

Pastor Jerry

----- Original Message -----

From: Debbie Weiger

To: ChoGtalk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 12:39 PM
Subject: [ChoGtalk] FW: Hurricane Response Update

This is the email I sent out yesterday (which has a lot of other information in it besides the question of the use of our camp facility, which, as you will see we have decided not to do at this time. After seriously trying to do so for several days, we found the logistics and obstacles were great, and felt that our resources would be much better put to use by taking our workers TO Mississippi and Louisiana and helping out there, than bringing the evacuees to our camp, where they would be cut off from social services, transportation, work opportunities and even anything to do! (Camp Chula Vista is really in the boonies.)

IF ANY OF YOUR CHURCHES WANT TO SEND PEOPLE TO WORK IN MISSISSIPPI OR LOUISIANA, YOU ARE WELCOME TO WORK WITH US. CONTACT INFORMATION FOR THE WORK CAMP BASE COORDINATOR IS TOWARD THE BOTTOM OF THE EMAIL.

WE CAN USE HELP WITH FUNDS TOO, FOR ESTABLISHING THESE WORK CAMPS, SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT.

Dear ALCOG Family,

As we know all of you are experiencing, our hearts are broken over the enormous scope of devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. But our hearts are also BLESSED by the enormous outpouring of help and resources by you, the ALCOG families and churches.

We have been in contact with many, many of the people in crisis, and many of you who are reaching out to help. In this email we want to update you on several of these situations.

First to the NEEDS:

LOUISIANA – We have talked directly with State Minister Don Coleman. They have opened their camp facility in Pollack as a refuge to around 75 people (it changes somewhat, with folks coming and going). About ¼ of them are Church of God families from across LA who are displaced. The others are mostly Creole and Cajun. A number of the men have gotten jobs with FEMA, and most have transportation (those who evacuated before the storm). He does not yet have a full report on all of their churches and families, but does know that many are severely impacted. He says they will definitely need help 2 or 3 weeks from now at the camp as they house these folks for an indefinite period of time, but emphasizes that we PLEASE CALL BEFORE YOU COME! (so all volunteers don’t show up at one time!) Gas is limited to 10 gal. in their area. They are in need of funds. They are not taking any Red Cross or FEMA funds because of the requirement to sign a contract NOT to pray with or read scripture to any of the evacuees if they accept gov’t. funds. They are not willing to do that!

MISSISSIPPI -- We finally got in contact with Jim Daniel, Mississippi State Minister just last night (they’ve been without power or phone service). There are several of their churches that they have not yet been in contact with in the most severely damaged areas (such as LAUREL and PERRYFORD). HATTIESBURG has a lot of damage. WADE is OK. GULFPORT, the structure is sound but water damage is severe. A number of families in these places have totally lost homes. Meridian was out of power until Friday, and yet the city is taking in 10,000 evacuees. (From the COG website: North Park Church in Meridian, MS, served as a Red Cross hurricane shelter until it lost electrical power and water on Tuesday afternoon. Pastor Earl T. Wheatley, Jr., says that utilities were restored on Friday, so the Red Cross plans to resume using the church building as a refugee shelter on Saturday, September 3. The Red Cross's expectation is that these people will be with us for up to three months, Pastor Wheatley says, perhaps longer, since many have no place to return.)

Our previous emails pretty much detailed the situations at Alabama Churches of God.

The RESPONSES:

Daphne Austin Road Community Church has opened a shelter in their facility, serving 32 persons (as of today). 5 are Hawaiian, 6 Polish, 9 African-American, and the rest are Caucasian. The Polish family just moved to American 2 weeks before the storm hit. One of the families has a 9 day old baby, whom they have discovered has a hole in her heart (Please pray for her that it will heal without surgery.) These families has lost everything they owned.

The greatest need is for money to provide food and basic necessities. (Pastor Wayne Anderson promises full accounting for all the funds received.) They also need water, soft drinks, industrial size cans of fruit and vegetables, large portions or poundage of meats. They need cookware, utensils, suitcases (the people came with only backpacks, if anything), Lactose-free and milk-free formula (Enfamil).

They need volunteers to spend the nights at the shelter. Permanent housing. Cars to be able to go to work.

ALABASTER HICKORY HILLS WORSHIP CENTER have adopted two families right now, who are staying in the homes of their church families, and have applied for 2 or 3 more. Don & Sue Jeffers are coordinating donations of clothing, supplies, etc. for these families.

Needed: jobs for an Hispanic man (skilled at laying flooring of all kinds) and two sons, ages 21 & 25. Work clothes (Pants sizes 38, 32) Size Large shirts. Work shoes size 12.

If you want to help call Don & Sue at 205-620-4147.

FAIRVIEW COG –sending a crew of workers to Pascagoula, MS this next weekend.

CENTERPOINT COG – has sent $ and is collecting supplies to send to Daphne.

HUNTSVILLE CORNERSTONE – sending $ to Daphne and volunteering folks to go on work camps

ARAB 12^th AVE – offering volunteers for work camps and sending supplies to Bayou la Batre

DECATUR 6^th AVE – working toward opening up two houses owned by the church to provide housing for hurricane victims.

FAIRHOPE SOUTH RIVER PARK COG – holding a fund raiser on Saturday for hurricane victims.

********* THIS IS BY NO MEANS A COMPLETE LIST !!!!!!! JUST A SAMPLING!!!******

We would like to hear from your church as to what you are doing!

STATE RESPONSE:

We are immediately sending $1500 state funds to Daphne to help with their shelter needs and $500 to Mobile to help with their insurance deductible.

Over the past 4 days, we have been seriously looking into the possibility and feasibility of opening up Camp Chula Vista as a shelter for refugees, and had a few persons step up to the plate and generously offer their help. HOWEVER, the logistics, finances and obstacles were so many, and actually even the location of the camp a hindrance because of lack of transportation, jobs, access to social services, etc. and actually the need so great in neighboring Mississippi and Louisiana, we are CHANGING THE FOCUS.

We are working now toward establishing a BASE CAMP in Mississippi for sending work camps into the hard hit areas. When you go, you have to go in ready to be self-sustaining. RACHAEL WOOSLEY has agreed to work to organize this. She will be organizing volunteers for the work camps, which should begin hopefully within the next 2 weeks for tree/debris removal, serving in the shelters, and many, many other types of work.

IF YOU or your church group ARE INTERESTED IN GOING ON A WORK CAMP to Mississippi or Louisiana in the next 3 months or so CONTACT RACHAEL WOOSLEY AT rwoosley@riverchase.cc or by calling her at the church (205) 988-8515 or at (205) 612-3486 (cell) We highly encourage you to work with her to send volunteers. She is very gifted at putting these things together.

We (Tony & Debbie) will be heading down south on Wednesday and will be there through the weekend, going to Fairhope, Mobile and Daphne, hoping to help out some.

MOST OF ALL, please continue to pray for all our brothers and sisters in need!

Tony & Debbie Weiger

ALCOG State Office

A Breakthrough Prayer

I am posting a re-write of our Breakthrough Prayer. My friend Ruth Shinness tweaked it a little bit.

O Lord, how I love You! My faith is in You!

My love for You overflows in rivers of love for my brothers and sisters in Christ – especially for my church family.

Thank you, All-Glorious Father, that we have experienced a breakthrough of faith! We've shattered glass – overcoming all barriers that kept us from knowing You more.

You have filled us with spiritual wisdom and insight so that we now know more of You.

Hallelujah!

You have flooded our hearts with light! The darkness of sin and death has been driven away, so that we now understand the wonderful future You have promised all of Your Called Ones. We now have the magnificent and glorious inheritance you have given Your people.

Hallelujah!

Amen!!

1 Year Anniversary

June 1, 2006!

Today marks one year of service as pastor at Dodge Park Church of God. Amazing! It has been a wonderful year of getting to know this group of people.

I think I am most proud of the attitude the church seems to have these days. We are positive about our future. People are really starting to believe that we can experience an ongoing renewal that impacts our community.

I am thankful for:

• A faithful community of people who have such a wonderful, positive spirit.
• New people like Romero (Romy), Nelia (Nene), Paul, Joanne, Dottie, Jerry, Tammy, Amber, Casey, Charise, and D'Andre who were willing to take a journey with us.
• A community willing to learn how to be vulnerable toward one another - sharing their griefs so that healing can take place.
• 40 Days of Purpose that taught us so much, but especially the value of community and small groups.
• 6 people who stepped forward to be baptized at our Celebration service.

We haven't accomplished as much as I had hoped in the first year. That's normal. Strategic planners tell us we can never do as much as we think in a year. But, we can accomplish more than we think in 5 years.

In the year ahead we will:

• Enjoy a Breakthrough Summer. (That will be my next blog.)
• Clearly define our purpose, values, and strategy.
• Develop small groups as a thriving ministry in our church.
• Develop a clear pathway to include new people in our church.
• Network with area Church of God congregations (depending on their willingness to do so.)
• Reach 100 in attendance. Heidi Lynn says, "by Christmas!" That's a goal I would like you to pray with me about.
• Discover new and creative ways to impact our community for Jesus Christ.

It's a joy to serve as pastor at Dodge Park Church of God!

Jerry

A beginning

This is a new idea for me as I am brand new to blogging. So, you can help me figure out exactly what blogging can do for us!

Feel free to help me figure out what I am doing!

Wecome aboard,

Jerry